Blog No. 285: Child Prodigy Alma Deutscher, Anne Frank 80 Years Later, Dogs with Sticks

Alma Deutscher Child Prodigy

This is the story of a young girl named Alma Deutscher (now a young woman of 20) and I think you are really going to scratch your head on this one. For me, it just makes it clear that there is so much we do not understand in this life. I personally find it incredibly exciting to just take it all in with wonder!

Alma Deutscher is a British composer, pianist, violinist and conductor but she had an extremely unusual early start at her career. Her earliest memories were hearing the music of Ricard Strauss as a toddler and being already mesmerized and in love. At three she was already playing piano and violin. When she was four she started having compositions and melodies come to her in her head--"they just popped in" she describes and these were not just things she had heard--they were her original compositions. She composed her first piano sonata at the age of five. At seven, she completed a short opera, and at age 9 she had already written a full violin concerto! If you want to be enchanted, please take the twelve minutes it takes to hear this 60 Minutes piece on her--guaranteed it will stretch what you thought of life and how things come about...

Wanda Sykes Illustration, courtesy RaLiz and RedBubble

Anne Frank 80 Years Later

I think it is important to keep Nazi Germany fresh in our minds right now as America goes through these scary times that sadly mirror in many ways the rise of fascism there. Let’s hope knowing history might prevent us from making the same mistakes.

Anne Frank has become a symbol of that time. Here are her experiences from Germany to Amsterdam, narrated and told from the viewpoint of Eva Schloss, a contemporary, whose own story mirrored Frank's life but sadly to a very different end.

Through her diary, Anne Frank’s words survived, becoming a symbol of resilience and a testament to the atrocities of the Holocaust, inspiring generations to fight prejudice and embrace humanity.

This documentary, entitled 80 Years Later: Anne Frank’s Sister Breaks Her Silence, directed by Rachel Stirling, interweaves Anne Frank’s diary entries with the parallel experience of other refugees at that time in Amsterdam, and is full of informative archival footage and interviews.

Dogs With Sticks

Photo courtesy on Instagram @dog_rates

Here is a pure fluff piece that I found on youtube: Dogs Carrying Sticks. I have become a true dog lover after having my daughter's dog up with me in Maine for an extended period of time so excuse the obsession if you are not of the same mind. But this story is fun, charming, and guaranteed to put a smile on your face. We all need reason to do that these days...

Painting of the Week

An impromptu art show this week on the lawn of Rancho La Puerta in Tecate, Mexico.

Charity of the Week:
Doctor's Without Borders

Book of the Week

About The Author
New York City based contemporary artist, Pam Smilow, began writing the creative lifestyle blog “things we love” in an effort to foster a sense of community during times of isolation and reflection. To read more about her and her art, visit her website and check out the essay written by Frank Matheis entitled The Sophisticated Innocence of Pam Smilow.